Fayetteville (NC) police recalling Tasers to examine their safety

"The Fayetteville Police Department is the second in North Carolina in the past six weeks to pull the Tasers from use. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department did so in July after a 21-year-old man died after a Taser was used on him. The day before that man's death, a federal jury awarded $10 million to the family of a 17-year-old Charlotte teen who died in 2008 after he was stunned with a Taser. The suit was filed against Taser International, the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based manufacturer of the stun guns."

August 29, 2011
Nancy McCleary, Fay Observer

The Fayetteville Police Department is taking its Taser weapons off the streets so officials can determine whether it's safe to use them, authorities said Monday.

The decision comes almost a week after a Fayetteville man died after police used a Taser as they tried to take him into custody.

"I feel it was the responsible and prudent response to issues with the use of Tasers in the law enforcement profession in general," Police Chief Tom Bergamine said Monday in an email.

All officers have been ordered to turn in their Tasers at the department's training facility where the weapons will be inspected to make sure they are functioning properly, Bergamine said in a news release earlier Monday.

Bergamine said he has no reason to believe that the Taser used in last week's incident malfunctioned.

"The Fayetteville Police Department believes that it is imperative that we immediately verify that all of our Tasers are in proper working order to protect both the citizens and officers," the statement said.

The department also plans to review its policies and procedures regarding the use of Tasers, the statement said.

The department's use-of-force policy addresses the use of Tasers and cites conditions in which the weapons should be used.

Among them are controlling violent subjects when deadly force is not necessary, when conventional tactics and/or self-defense techniques are ineffective, when there is a reasonable expectation that it will be unsafe for officers to get close to a subject and to keep a person from committing suicide or a self-inflicted injury.

Michael Wade Evans, 56, of the 1100 block of Simpson Street, died Wednesday after a Fayetteville police officer used a Taser on him.

Police were trying to arrest Evans about 2:30 p.m. in front of Fuller's Old Fashion Barbecue at 113 N. Eastern Blvd. Evans was reported to have been acting erratically and trying to jump on vehicles as they passed him on the road.

When Evans resisted arrest, an officer used a stun gun. Evans became unresponsive and was pronounced dead at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center.

Fayetteville police have used Tasers since 1996, according to spokesman Gavin MacRoberts.

Evans is the second person to die in Fayetteville since 2008 after city police used a stun gun during an arrest.

In January 2008, Otis C. Anderson, 36, stopped breathing after a Taser was used to subdue him. The incident happened on Murchison Road. An autopsy later revealed that Anderson had a lethal amount of cocaine in his system and that the cause of death was an overdose of the drug.

Second to pull Tasers

The Fayetteville Police Department is the second in North Carolina in the past six weeks to pull the Tasers from use.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department did so in July after a 21-year-old man died after a Taser was used on him.

The day before that man's death, a federal jury awarded $10 million to the family of a 17-year-old Charlotte teen who died in 2008 after he was stunned with a Taser.

The suit was filed against Taser International, the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based manufacturer of the stun guns.

The city of Charlotte denied any wrongdoing but settled with the victim's family and paid them $625,000 in 2009, according to reports.

Taser International makes the stun guns used by Fayetteville police.

A company spokesman said there have been no reports of malfunctioning Taser weapons in the company's 17-year history.

"The vast number of these cases (deaths) tend to be caused by a drug overdose or delirium or some are simply unexplained," Steve Tuttle said.

It's not unusual, he said, for a law enforcement agency to review its policies and procedures for use of Tasers.

"We'll have lots of situations in which departments want to get to the bottom of what happened in an event like this," Tuttle said. "You want to make sure the weapons are in normal operating order."

Tuttle also cited a Department of Justice study published in May that showed no increased risk of an irregular heartbeat caused by a Taser gun.

Sheriff's response

Sheriff Moose Butler said he had no plans to pull the Tasers his deputies carry.

"We have, as the usual course and practice, reviewed all of our policies regarding use of force, and we have found them to be appropriate," said Debbie Tanna, a Sheriff's Office spokeswoman.

"We have also inquired as to whether there have been any product warning, recalls or notices of defects in the Taser devices, or any reports of them, which would tend to impact the use of the devices," Tanna said. "We have found none."

Cumberland County Commissioner Charles Evans has been critical of the Police Department's use of Tasers. He commended Bergamine's decision but said it should have been done earlier.

"Actually," Evans said, "I don't think Tasers should be used at all. I think our leadership under the current administration should have looked at this a long time ago."

The three officers involved in the incident that resulted in Michael Evans' death have been placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of an investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation, which is routine in uses of police force resulting in death.

Police have identified the officers as Alexander Leviner, 35; Christopher Crews, 25; and Travis Smith, 22, all assigned to the Campbellton Bureau.

The SBI is continuing to investigate, a spokeswoman said Monday.